Coating machine



Oct. 13, 1942.

J. H. GORDON, JR comma MACHINE Filed Aug. 27, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 M, yW 5 m MW T I m #m w v s 2 v w an m R my a N Am G MN 7 B 8 R Q w Oct. 13,1942. J. H; GORDONQJR COATING MACHINE Filed Aug. 27, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet2 v INVENTOR 116M B M12 .1! 5w. ATTORNEYS m. w an R Oct. 13, 1942.

J. H. Gannon. JR coA'rI'ucr MACHINE Filed Aug. '27. 1940- 3 Sheets-Sheet3 ATT'oNEYs Patented Oct. 13, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COATINGMACHINE James H. Gordon, Jr., Geneva, N. Y., assignor to American CanCompany, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application August27, 1940, Serial No..354,416

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to coating machines of the character inwhich fibre containers to be coated are immersed in a bath of liquidcoating material contained in a tank and has particular reference toshifting the tank into and out of place in the machine so that the tankmay be readily cleaned when desired.

In coating machines of considerable size the immersion tank which holdsthe coating material sometimes extends for twenty five or thirty feetalong the machine. Such tanks are of considerable weight and are usuallyof a permanently built-in character. However, where it is necessary tofrequently clean the tank this built-in feature is sometimes adisadvantage in that it is diflicult to clean around the conveyor andother parts of the machine which are usually located in the tank.

The instant invention contemplates overcoming this difflculty byproviding an elevator mechanism for the tank so that it may be readilylowered and spaced away from the machine parts located therein forcleaning and may be returned again with ease.

An object therefore of the invention is the provision in a coatingmachine having a tank which holds the coating material of devices whichallows for the tank being readily lowered away from its normal positionin the machine so that it will be clear of machine parts located in thetank and thus will be free to facilitate cleaning of the tank.

'Another object is the provision of liquid cutoff devices in such amachine in which the coating material in the tank is maintained at aconvstant level so that the flow of the coating material into the tankwill be automatically cut ofi when the tank is lowered away from itsnormal operating position in the machine.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentas it is better understood from' the following description, which,

taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses apreferred embodiment thereof.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through one end of a coating machineembodying the instant invention, with parts broken away;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the opposite end of the machine, with partsbroken away;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the machine as viewed from the left inFig. 1, with parts broken away and parts shown in section; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation as viewed from the right in Fig.3, with parts broken away.

As a preferred embodiment of the instant invention thedrawingsillustrate principal parts of a coating machine in whichrectangular fibre milk containers A of. the character disclosed inUnited States Patent 2,085,979, issued July 6, 1937, to J. M.Hothersall, are coated exteriorly and interiorly with a coating ofparaflin wax.

In such a machine'the containers are carried along a predetermined pathof travel in .a horizontal position on an endless chain conveyor ll(Figs. 1 and 2) having carrier pockets l2 in which the containers arelocated. The conveyor operates over a pair of spaced sprockets l3 whichare located one at each end of the machine and which are mounted onshafts l4 journaled in suitable bearings formed in a structural steelframe [5 which constitutes the main frame of the machine. One of theshafts I4 is the driving shaft and this may be rotated in any suitablemanner in time with the other moving parts of the machine.

The containers A first move with the conveyor H along its lower runwhile, guide rails I1 disposed adjacent the conveyor retain' thecontainers in their pockets l2. Along this run the con veyor carries thecontainers down into .a tank or reservoir 2| which contains the liquidcoating material and thus immerses the containers so that .their' wallsare-entirely covered with the coating both exteriorly and interiorly.

After immersion the containers arevcarried up out of the reservoir,around the sprocket l3 shown in Fig. 1 and thence along the upper run ofthe conveyor. Guide rails 22, 23 disposed adjacent the sprocket and theupper run of the conveyor retain the containers in their pockets l2 atsuch a time. In traveling along this run of the conveyor the containersare rocked in their pockets to drain the excess coating material. Thisis preferably efiected by twists in the guide rails 23. When the coatedand drained containers arrive adjacent the sprocket l3 in Fig. 2 theyare discharged for further treatment.

' In order to facilitate cleaning of the tank when such is necessary thetank 2| is supported on a plurality of vertically disposed elevatorscrews 25. which are located at spaced intervals along both longitudinalsides of the tank so that the tank may be readily lowered away from its23 which form a part of the machine main frame l5. Collars 3| pinned tothe screws on each side of the bearings 28 hold the screws againstdisplacement from the bearings. v

The lower ends of the elevator screws 25 are carried in stationarybearing blocks 33 which may rest on the floor or on a baseof themachine. These ends of the screws carry helical gears 34 which arepinned to the screws and which rest on top of the bearing blocks 33. Thegears mesh with helical pinions 36 which are carried on and keyed tooperating shafts 31 which extend the full length of the tank. There aretwo of these operating shafts located one on each. side of the tank andthey are carried in bearings 38 formed as a part of the bearing blocks33. There are two bearings 38 in each bearing block .and they straddlethe helical pinions 36 for each elevator screw 25 so that the pinionswill be held against displacement along the shafts.

The outer ends of the shafts 31 as shown in Fig. 4 are carried inbearing brackets 4|. There is one of these brackets for each shaft.Within the brackets the shafts carry helical gears 42 which mesh withsimilar gears 43 keyed to the outer ends of a cross shaft 44. The endsof this cross shaft are carried in bearings 45 formed in a yoke 46bolted to the bearing brackets 4|. One end of the shaft is formed with asquare section for the reception of a crank handle 43.

Hence by manually turning the crank handle 48, the cross shaft 44 isrotated and this through the meshing helical gears 42, 43 rotates bothof the operating shafts 31 in unison. Rotation of the operating shafts31 revolves the elevator screws 25 and this causes the bearing nutbrackets 26, which are secured to the tank 2|, to travel along thelength of the screw. Hence when the crank handle 48 is actuated in theproper direction the tank 2| may be lowered from its normal operatingposition shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 to a position adjacent the floor asshown in Fig. 3. In this lowered position the tank is clear and free ofthe conveyor parts which normally operany suitable source of supply ofthe coating material. Control of the flow of coating material throughthe pipe is effected by a normally closed cut-oil valve 52 having aspring held valve stem 53 and a normally open flow control valve 55having a spring held valve stem 55. These valves are connected into theinlet pipe line.

The normally closed valve 52 is held open while the tank is in normaloperating position by a bracket 53 which is secured to the end of thetank.. This bracket engages the valve stem 53 and holds it up againstthe resistance of its spring. The open valve thereby permits the coatingmaterial to flow through the pipe 5| to the valve 55.

.The valve stem 56 of the valve 55 is connected to an operating arm 6|having one end mounted on a pivot pin 62 carried in a lug 53 on thevalve.

The opposite end of the operating arm extends above and is normallyengaged by the upper end I of a rod 65 which carries a float 63 disposedin the coating material in the tank. The rod is carried in a pairofspaced bearings 61 formed in a shell bracket 68 secured to the inside ofthe tank.

Hence as the level of the coating material in the tank rises and falls,the float 55 rises and falls with it and thus moves the float rod 65 upor down, as the case may be, within its bearings 61. When the rod movesup it pushes the valve operating arm 6| upwardly and this shifts thevalve stem 56 against the resistance of its spring and closes the valve55 and cuts oil. the flow of the coating material into the tank.

When the float rod 65 moves down with the float it recedes from thevalve operating arm 6! and the spring on the valve stem thus pushes thestem downwardly and thus opens the valve to permit the coating materialto flow into the tank and thereby bring the level of the material up toits normal predetermined height. In this manner the coating material inthe tank is maintained at a constant predetermined level.

When the tank 21 is lowered for cleaning as hereinbefore explained, thefloat 66 moves' down with the tank and this permits the valve 55 to opento its full extent; The flow of coatingmaterial into the tank however,is immediately cut off by the valve 52 so that the tank will beprevented from being flooded. This is brought about by the bracket 58which also moves down with the tank and thus moves away from the valve(52. The flow of coating material is thereby cut oil until the tank isagain raised into its normal operating position as shown in Fig. 1.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description, and it will beapparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction andarrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the formhereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

1 claim:

1. In a machine for coating fibre containers, the combination of a tankfor retaining liquid coating material, elements for introducing thecoating material in a flowing stream into the tank, devices for shiftingthe tank into and out of operative position to facilitate cleaning ofthe tank and other parts, and'means for cutting 01! the flow of thecoating material into the tank when the latter is shifted out ofoperative position, said means being actuated by movement of said tankfrom operative to inoperative position.

2. In a machine for coating fibre containers, the combination of a tankfor retaining liquid coating material, elements for introducing thecoating material in aflowing stream into the tank, regulatorinstrumentalities controlling the flow of the coating material into thetank for maintaining it at a constant level in the tank, devices forshifting the tank into and out of operative position to facilitatecleaning of the tank, and means for cutting oil. the flow of the coatingmaterial into the tank when the latter is shifted out of operativeposition, said means being actuated by movement of said tank fromoperative to inoperative position.

3. In a machine for coating fibre containers,

the combination of a tank for retaining liquid coating material, aninlet pipe for introducin the coating material into the tank in aflowing tank is in operative position and for effecting closure of saidvalve when the tank is shifted out of operative position.

4. In a machine for coating fibre containers,

the combination of a tank for retaining liquid coating material, aninlet pipe for introducing the coating material into the tank in aflowing stream, a cut-off valve in said inlet pipe, a flow control valvealso in said inlet pipe, a float in said tank for opening andclosing'said control valve to maintain a predetermined level of coatingmaterial in the tank, devices for shifting the tank into and out ofoperative position, and means connected with said tank for holdings aidcut-oil valve open so that the control valve will function when. thetank is in operative position and for effecting closure of said cut-offvalve to render said control valve inefiective when the tank is shiftedout of operative position.

5. In acoating machine, the combination of a tank for retaining liquidcoating material, a conduit for introducing coating material into saidtank, a valve in said conduit to open or close same, means for shiftingsaid tank into and out of operative position, and means associated withsaid valve whereby'the same is closed when said tank is shifted fromoperative to inoperative position.

6. In a coating machine, the combination of a tank for retaining liquidcoating material, a

conduit for introducing coating material into said tank, a valve in saidconduit to open or close same,- means for shifting said tank into andout of operative position, and means associated with said valve wherebythe same is closed when said tank is shifted from operative toinoperative position, a second valve in said conduit and a constantliquid level means connected to said second valve. 7. In a coatingmachine, the combination of a tank for retaining liquid coatingmaterial, a

conduit for introducing coating material into position, whereby saidtank may be easily cleaned when moved to inoperative position.

JAMES H. GORDON, JR.

